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Getting lemon juice out of a tank, help?

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Hi! You may have read that I just killed my 29 BioCube reef with lemon juice. Now, I don't want to hear what I did wrong, I figured that out. (for one, the lemon juice expired in June. It meant June of 2010! Curse you, old thing moved up front!) What I want to know is this: how can I make the live sand, live rock, and tank fish safe again?
I don't want to throw it all out, because it's full of critters that survived. Here's my plan: the live rock and a couple of snails that survived are in a small tank with clean water. I was thinking I could remove the top inch or so of sand, since it has the most critters, and put it in a bucket. Then, after a while, all the stuff will be in the top inch or so of that. I'd remove them, toss the rest, and keep doing that until I didn't really have any sand, just critters. Then, set up the tank with new sand, and some new rock, add the old rock and critters, then just cycle it and see how it does.
Does the above make any sense, or do I need to rephrase it? Help, please!

Keep only a very small amount of rock for your inverts and keep them in a QT tank. Keep a close eye on your PH and dKH as if any lemon juice soaked into the rock, it will cause your PH and dKH to become unstable (as the lemon juice will act like a acid to lower PH) Re-cure the remaining rock in complete darkness and frequent water changes. The will draw out any lemon juice that might have soaked in. About 4 weeks or so should be good. You have to remember your rock will soak up almost anything in your water.

I would not reused the sand. Replace it or don't even use any sand in your next set-up.

If I remember correctly, you were also using a filter. If yes, clean the filter and replace

If you take your time to do the research FIRST, you can successfully set-up and keep ANY type of aquarium with ease."Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony CalfoFishless CycleCycling with FishMarine Aquarium Info [URL="http://saltwater.aquaticcommunity.com/"]

Only about 2-3 tbsp. I just figured something else out. The water was very cloudy, could that have been a bacterial bloom? Oh, Cliff, call me a softie, but I hate the idea of all the bristleworms and stuff slowly dieing. I have some clove oil, if I put the sand in a bucket with that, would it painlessly kill the critters? Oh, and FYI, crashed tank + lemon juice =/= lemony fresh.

It wasn't just the lemon juice that did this,it was simply the last straw somehow. I dosed brightwell vit c in 5 ml dose daily for months and it is very similar to a citrus concentrate. Yes it was bact bloom that did the killing but if only such a small amount of lemon juice brought it on then I think your tank was on the verge of crashing anyway.

When you say the water was fine beforhand. What were your paramenters such as nitrates and phosphates? If it was a bacteria bloom then a very good tank cleaning is in order and that is where you are right now. If I had my tank to do over I would start out with totally cured rock and a bare bottom.

Ammonia and nitrites 0, nitrates about 7.5. My phosphates test kit expired last month, and I've been too busy with school to get a new one. How can I clean the tank? The Biocube filter is very hard to clean, and it's built into the tank.

Well there is no rush at this point so I would remove all the sand and cook the rocks and start over with a bare bottom. As for cleaning the filter,I'm not familiar with the biocubes. Do you have a skimmer?

Not at the moment. A snail somehow broke it. Basically, the BioCube filter is three small compartments, with a filter cartridge in the first, live rock rubble in the second, and a pump in the third. It's hard to get anything into anything to clean it. Is there any way to tell if the tank is toxic, other than adding a fish?